This application claims the priority of German Patent Document No. 101 24 530.0, filed May 19, 2001, and PCT/DE02/01618 filed May 4, 2002 the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein, respectively.
The invention relates to a sensor structure for carrying out measurements of air or flow data, such as pressure levels, on the exterior surface of a flow body protruding into a flow, which can be an airplane or generally an air vehicle or any random body exposed to a flow such as a wing, as well as an air vehicle with the sensor structure.
Air data measurements in airplanes have generally been conducted with external probes, which can be integrated particularly inexpensively and in a structurally simple manner. They also offer the advantage that, with appropriate arrangement on the airplane's fuselage, relatively little effort is required is required for the compensation of local influencing factors of the air flow. Such external probes, however, have disadvantages in many cases that are significant for future airplanes. For example, in the hypersonic range the thermal stability of these external probes is not sufficient. In the regular flight range and in military application areas, problems arise with regard to thermal control ability, the EMC and lightning stroke stability, as well as the signature that these external probes have towards radar devices. With external probes there is also additionally always the risk of ice formation, which impairs the safety of the airplane. External probes furthermore require a relatively large space because they also require components for signal pre-processing and signal processing as well as for heating the probes. Furthermore the angle of incidence can be measured only in a limited region with external probes. As an example, airplanes fly at large attach angles of attack during take-off and landing or during air war. Therefore, external probes are not able to determine the aerodynamic flight condition with sufficient accuracy.
It is therefore the object of the invention to create a sensor structure for a flow body as well as an arrangement of the same in the flow body, eliminating the above-mentioned disadvantages.